The invention relates to a printing unit for a stamp, with a housing that accommodates a pan-shaped support element featuring a pan bottom and at least one lateral wall arranged contiguous thereto, with the support element holding an ink storage body for accepting stamp ink, a printing plate abutting against the ink storage body and at least the pan bottom formed to be liquid-tight. The invention further relates to a stamp with a printing unit and an actuator unit connected thereto by means of a connecting element, wherein a printing plate is arranged in or on the printing unit and moveable against a resetting force from a neutral setting into a print setting by means of the actuator unit. The invention further relates to a semi-finished product to be arranged in a stamp comprising a pan-shaped support element formed with an open top side opposite the pan bottom for insertion of an ink storage body. The invention further relates to a stamp cartridge to be arranged in a stamp for initial filling or refilling with ink comprising a pan-shaped support element featuring a pan bottom and at least one lateral wall and an open top side formed opposite the pan bottom for insertion of an ink storage body. The invention also relates to a method for saturating an ink storage body of a stamp with stamp ink, according to which stamp ink is filled into a pan-shaped support element for the ink storage body featuring a pan bottom and at least one lateral wall contiguous thereto. However, the invention also relates to a support element comprising a pan bottom and at least one lateral wall contiguous thereto.
One disadvantage of existing stamps referred to as “pre-ink-stamps” or similarly is clean, metered introduction of ink into the ink storage body or printing plate as such.
The Term
“pre-ink-stamps” refers to stamp solutions also known as presaturated and/or prefabricated stamps. Another disadvantage is that the period of saturation of the systems, meaning the time between addition of the ink and first possible imprint is very long. There are already related product solutions and descriptions of industrial property rights, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,781 B1, according to which stamp ink is added to a type of pan. The disadvantage of this solution is a lack of metering accuracy because an uncontrolled saturation process starts immediately. WO 2007/082330 describes how this ink storage body clicks into the stamping device and can be folded out again for filling, but this solution also does not allow for exact and metered filling without aids.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,969 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,162 A, JP 2007-152748 or US 2005/0061175 A similar systems are described as well.
AT 001 129 U discloses a stamp with a printing unit comprising a pan-shaped support element, an ink storage body saturated with stamp ink and a printing plate, with the pan bottom formed to be liquid-tight.
AT 503 112 B1 describes a stamp including a partially porous printing plate that can be moved by means of an actuator unit out of a neutral setting pulled back into a housing against a spring force into a print setting. The printing plate abuts against an ink storage body mounted in a support element at least partially surrounding the ink storage body for the purpose of receiving stamp ink. This support element is formed in the shape of a pan and features a connecting element snapped onto an actuator unit, with said connecting element featuring at least one filler tube aligned with an ink refill opening in the bottom wall of the support element.